UCAS Personal Statement writing service for Oxbridge

[Aurea]

Please be kind - I'm just curious at this stage.

My son is hoping to apply for Law at Oxbridge next year, and google has brought up some Personal Statement writing services firms. Has anyone used these and are they any good? Sounds a bit like cheating to me, but his Scottish state school doesn't have much experience in applying.

TIA

I work in university admissions. Please don't - we can tell!

The best personal statements are those that really show a passion for the subject. In my opinion, I don't think that a professional service is needed for that.

Does your ds's school have a UCAS co-ordinator? Could you talk to them about the support they will provide?

That was probably my feeling too. No his school may have had one or two kids accepted in the last 10 years, so they have very little experience.

He is good at writing, so I think he will have to go it alone. His chances are quite low anyway as he is hoping to study one of the most popular degrees - law.

Thank you!

Forgot to say - he's done a draft already - and this is for 2019 applications! At least he's keen and thinking ahead.....

Do not do it! They use stock phrases and reuse a lot of old material. When a personal statement is submitted they run it through plagiarism software and these things are always picked up. As well as this it's totally obvious when a statement has been written by a student and by a service. I work in a 6th form college and manage around 300 applications each year with the students in my pastoral groups. Please don't let your son do this. If he needs extra help go to uni open days they often have sessions that give advice and feedback, doesn't matter if he's applying there or not!

You can get a free review of your personal statement on The Student Room website, and that would be much better. If someone writes their own personal statement, it's generally obvious as they will have their own areas of interest that they discuss. A writing service will use generic phrases and ideas

Thank you. That's definitely put me off pursuing that avenue. He'll put in the hard graft himself.